Have you noticed how hard it is to teach something you do not really know yourself? Many of us struggle with time management ourselves, so how can we hope to teach our children to “do as we say, not as we do?” The good news is that we can learn along with them!
Truths About Time Management
Any homeschooling parent knows how easily the day can slip away. Ever wake up in the morning excited to achieve many learning goals for the day and then—bam!—all of a sudden the day is over? Well, to master time management skills, first we need to acknowledge several truths about time and time management:
1. We Don’t Own Time
Homeschooling parents know all too well how important it is to take advantage of those “little moments” to be productive and achieve learning goals. Even so, the first truth about time management that we need to recognize is that we do not own our time, nor did we create it. Instead, we are stewards of the time God gives us.
2. Time is Not Evil
Time is not evil, even though we sometimes feel it is a cruel master, squeezing us and forcing us into difficult positions. God created time and pronounced it good along with the rest of His Creation!
3. We Are Called to Manage Our Time Well
As stewards, we are called to handle well what is in our charge until the master returns. Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for everything and as stewards we must discover how to use this resource wisely.
4. Using Time Requires Balance
Using our time well requires balance. A corollary is that balance is much easier to maintain when things are not upside down!
5. Time Management Requires Being Realistic
Being a good steward of time means being realistic. Even the best time manager in the world cannot manufacture more hours for each day. Too much of a good thing is not “too good;” often, it is just “too much!”
A Time Management Plan
How do we learn to respect time, make wise, intentional choices, find balance, and become realistic enough to say “no” to good things? Well, we can pray, plan, provide, and model.
1. Pray
We earnestly seek God’s wisdom. Don’t just ask, “Please, please, please help me get it all done!” We need to sit with Him and ask Him to show us what is important to Him and what is not. God gives us time to do all He calls us to do. If we do not have enough time, we are clearly taking on things He did not call us to! When we take on things others call us to—or things we call ourselves to—we make problems like busyness that leads to crabbiness, crises that could have been avoided, too little sleep, too much caffeine, loss of joy, and loss of witness to God’s power.
2. Plan
The simpler our plans are, the more likely they are accomplished. When we get too specific, things go astray very easily; it does not take much to derail a detailed plan! Start your plan with an outline of what you need to accomplish. List your spheres of responsibility: home, school, church, self. Then add some of your most basic goals. These will provide the framework for all the choices you make with your time. Let me say to those of us who love to plan: planning can become an excuse to avoid doing. Remember, the purpose of a plan is to implement a strategy, not to hide our lack of actual progress!
3. Provide
We need to provide some guidance for ourselves when we first attempt to get a handle on our time. Schedule in some margin or “white space” that we deem equally as important as our commitments to others. We may need to erect some boundaries for others who are accustomed to having us as answers to all their voiced needs. Provide some resources, such as other people (“many hands make light work”) or the right tools to get the job done.
4. Model
We need to find mentors or models of good time management. We need encouragers who will understand our quest for margin, balance, wholeness, and sanity. We need prayer partners who will journey with us. Each of us need help from others to say “no” to good things, and we need people who will not make us feel guilty for making choices that fit our family values but may disappoint others. If you’re a part of a homeschool community such as Classical Conversations, rely on those other parents for support, accountability, and guidance.
How to Teach Your Children Time Management Skills
Now, to teach our children time management using these four steps is the next challenge!
- Pray for your children and with them about the use of their time. They need to understand that this is an important issue to confront and master.
- Plan with your children. Assess your own personality and your child’s personality and lay out clear expectations. Be reasonable about what needs to be accomplished. Do not overestimate your time, resources, interests, and ability to motivate.
- Provide your children with guidance, support, resources, and encouragement. Early on we may need to supply many of the goals and plans, too!
- Model good time management skills for your children. They need an example to follow, not one to avoid.
Naturally, this journey toward good time management is a process, learned a little at a time. As nurturing parents, we talk about it, model it, demonstrate it, and help them do it, and then we stand back and let them go. When they are ready for independence, hopefully they are ready for independence!
Interested in Classical Conversations and our community-based approach to homeschooling? We’d love to hear from you. To learn more, click here.
Originally posted by Lisa Bailey on Thursday, 18 July, 2013.
